


Figuring it out

by James_Leonard



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Father Figure Pike, M/M, Starfleet Academy, Trans James T. Kirk, Trans Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Trans!bones, trans!Kirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-03 14:41:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17286011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/James_Leonard/pseuds/James_Leonard
Summary: Starfleet Academy but more queer! What if Bones' marriage broke up for a different reason...Updated once a month, but do check out my shorter stories xx-on hiatus but tbc at some point!-





	1. Just A Mistake

Kirk is jolted awake as the shuttle finally lands.

“Where-”  
“We’ve landed, kid. Now get of ma shoulder, you’re heavy as hell’.  
Kirk shakes himself awake, realising that he must have fallen asleep on Bones.

“Sorry.. I uh” Bones snorts and stands up grumbling. “I won’t tell em you can’t handle your liquor kid. Just lets get off this death trap”  
“I can handle my liquor!” “Sure you can kid… come on.”  
Kirk stands and stretches. His ribs ache and mentally he kicks himself for sleeping. He’s going to pay for a later.

Bones slings on his pack, and kirk follows suits quickly, sensing the older man’s impatience. They follow the other passengers and step off the shuttle. Bones takes a deep breath and then heads towards the quickly forming line leading to the building in front.  
“Not as good as sweet georgia air but hell’of’va better than that recyled muck”.  
Kirk rolls his eyes at Bones.  
“If Georgia is so great then why did you leave?” He quickly realises it was the wrong thing to say as Bones’ expression sours and he mutters under his breath. “Didn’t exactly have a choice kid”.

Kirk makes a mental note to find out more later but simply nods and drops it for the moment. The guy seemed decent so far and he didn’t want to piss him off. Not till they were friends at least. 

They stood in silence as the queue slowly moved forward till they reached the desk. Bones went first.  
“Leonard McCoy, medic”.  
The administrator tapped on her padd. “Right. We’ve put you in postgrad dorms so uh just follow the instructions on the padd and you’ll find it easy. Orientation for you is in an hour at the medical centre”. Leo takes the padd and stands aside.  
“Who is next please?”

Jim steps forward, hoping it wasn’t obvious how anxious he was.  
“Jim.. sorry er James Kirk”. The women taps at her padd and looks back puzzled.  
“I’m sorry but I can’t find you on the system”  
Jim starts to panic. _Shit what if they haven’t updated it._

The women realises his obvious anxiety. “Hey look just come stand over here and I’ll sure we can sort it. I’ll just sort the rest of these cadets out”. Jim nods, visibly relieved.

Bones looks at his padd and frowns. “It’s okay Bones, I’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s just a mistake” Bones nods and starts to leave and then sighs.  
“Hell kid I’ll wait for you. I hate orientation anyways so ya give me an excuse.” Jim laughs.  
“Antisocial much”  
“Yeah well being social is overrated”.

Jim opened his mouth to tease Bones further but stops when he hears a shout.  
“Jim, why are you still here”. He turns and sees Captain Pike.  
“Problem with records.. They can’t find me on the system,Sir” He adds nervously.  
“Right, I’m sure we can fix it.” Pike turns to the woman and takes the padd. As he types he turns to Bones “and what are you still doing here, cadet?” “McCoy, Sir. Making sure the kid doesn’t do anything idiotic”. Pike laughs and turns back to Jim.  
“Where did you find this one Jim”  
Jim laughs nervously and starts to reply “um well…” Pike waves a hand “Don’t worry kid, I’m just glad you’re making friends”. 

‘Hmm you really don’t seem to be on the system. Let me try one more thing” Jim starts to panic again. _Shit they’re going to find out and it’s all going to over._  
“Ah here we go, they’ve just spelt your name wrong”. Jim tries to look at the padd but can’t make out what it says.  
Pike looks at the padd, then looks at Jim,, then back to the padd. He thinks for a minute then just as Jim is about to start hyperventilating says “Well we’ll have to fix that, must just be a mistake.”  
Jim lets out a sigh of relief. _Did he realise or.. Or not? ___

____

“Right that sorted. Jim you’re in Tucker House. I’m heading that way anyways”. Jim nods and he and Bones pick up there bags and follow Pike.  
“I’ll catch you later kid, you know where I am.” Jim nods.  
“Cool… I’ll see you later”. Bones sling his bag on his back and jogs off, leaving Jim walking with Pike. 

“About that sir… I-”  
“Don’t worry kid, the system gets mixed up the whole time.” Jim nods but questions Pike again. “What did it say Sir?”  
“Just had you down as Jamie, but don’t worry -it’s fixed now. Bloody admin, they’re always making mistakes”. Jim nods and goes quiet.

_He doesn’t know! He thought it was just a mistake!_

They reach Jim’s dorm and Pike says goodbye and waves him off. “Don’t be a stranger Jim, you can drop by my office any time.” Jim nods whilst making mental note to do nothing of the sort.

He finds his room easily and goes in. _Shit I’ve got to share._ He sets down his bag and sits on the bed. There’s no sign of his roommate so he unpacks quickly before they turn up. He sighs and checks the padd. 5 minutes till orientation. He’d better go. He’ll just have to deal with his roommate later.

***

Orientation goes smoothly and Jim feels himself starting to relax. He’s zoned out most of what’s being said, knowing he it’ll just be the usual bullshit and instead focuses on the instructor talking on the stage. The Instructor is a Vulcan and his skin has a slight green tinge to it. Jim is curiously watches him, trying to read this expression.

“The details of your medical will be on your padd. You must not miss your medical or we will not be able to let you start classes.” Jim sighs and closes his eyes. 

“That is all now Cadets. Dinner is available in the canteen. I suggest you get a good night’s sleep so that you are ready for your classes tomorrow.” This gains a few laughs from the audience but the Vulcan doesn’t seem to care and walks off the stage. 

Jim gets up quickly and makes his way down to the front of the auditorium, fighting the crowd heading the opposite way. He gets there just in time to catch the instructor.

“Sir, I uh just have a question about the medicals”  
“Instructor Spock will do, Cadet?”  
“Kirk sir, sorry, Instructor Spock. I just.. Are the medicals done together”  
“I do not understand your question Cadet Kirk”  
“I mean, is everyone in a room together and that?  
“I see. No, everyone is seen individually. This is starfleet Cadet, not the military. We respect our individuals privacy. Is that all?”  
Kirk nods and is about to thank him but the Vuclan is already walking away. 

_Well at least it’ll only be one person._ He checks his padd to see who is assigned for his medical. _Shit I can’t let Bones do it. Then he’ll know and…_

Jim thinks for a second. _Pike had said he could see him anytime. He’ll go see him in the morning and get it changed. Worst comes to worst he’ll mention Tarus and use that. It’s not a great plan but it’ll work._

With his plan sorted, Jim went in search of the canteen. 

There’s not sign of Bones in the canteen and Jim isn’t really hungry so he grabs a sandwich for later and heads back to the dorm. He enters his room and stops dead. There’s a half naked girl in the middle of getting dressed. He can’t help but stare. He’s about to turn and leave when she notices him. 

“What the hell? What are you doing here.” She grabs her shirt and quickly puts it on, crossing her arms.  
“Sorry.. Um.. but this is my room.”  
“What, it can’t be? It’s my room.” She stares at him definitely.  
Jim stands there not sure what to say and then realises what’s happened. _Looks like my name wasn’t the only thing wrong on the system._  
“Ummm look it must be a mix up”  
“You can say that again. Well you’d better find a new room because I’m not shifting.”  
Jim sighs but doesn’t dare say anything.  
“Right umm well let me get my stuff”.  
“Be quick.” She gets up and goes in the bathroom, leaving him standing there. He grabs his clothes and shoves them in his bag.

“Look I’m really sorry, Miss..? “Its Ms. Now get out!”

He quickly backed out and left the room. 

He stood in the corridor. Another girl walks past, sees him and laughs. “This is the girls dorm idiot”. Jim blushed and walks away, hoping she’ll just think he was there for another reason. _But where to go now?_

***

Leo is just lying down when his padd beeps. He groaned, exhausted already from the medical orientation and he’s not looking forward till tomorrow. He’s been put on medicals all day, thanks to him being new and low down in the pecking order. He sits up and grabs the padd. 

Kirk, J: Hey can I crash?  
McCoy, L: The hell kid? Pissed off your roommate already?  
Kirk, J: It wasn’t my fault! Pleaseee Bones?  
McCoy, L: Jesus kid. Fine but you’d better not keep me awake. And only for tonight! I’m in Cochrane House, room 12..  
Kirk, J: LOVE YOU BONES <3 <3 <3

Leo sighs and puts the padd down. He’d better take his shot before Kirk arrives. So much for having his own room. He quickly does it, noting he’ll need to pick up some more soon. He’ll ask Dr Boyce he thinks. At the orientation earlier, he’d made a mental note to get himself transferred to be under Dr Boyce’s care as soon as he could. The older doctor had made a point about reminding the new medics of Starfleet’s anti-discrimination laws and he had a good feeling that he’d be decent.

Leo was mulling this over when he was interrupted by Kirk banging on the door.

“Chill out kid, I’m coming” He opened the door and Kirk practically ran in. Leo frowned, the kid was obviously upset about something. He gestured towards the other bed.  
“You’re luckily I’ve got a spare bed kid. Now why have you been kicked out already?”  
Kirk sat down on the unoccupied bed and looked around anxiously.  
“There was a mix up… I got put with a female roommate and I walked in on her”  
“I take it she didn’t appreciate that?”  
“Nope… so now i’ve got to find somewhere else.”  
Leonard nodded. “I’m they’’ll sort something out.I t’s hardly your fault” Kirk nods, but looks unconvinced.  
“Look, you can stay here till its sorted as long as you behave.”  
“You sure? I don’t want to impose?”  
“It’s fine kid. Just tell me you dont snore.”

Kirk laughed, obviously more at ease now. “‘Im not making any promises”. Leo rolls his eyes and gets his pajamas..  
“Well I’m getting ready for bed kid, long day tomorrow.” Kirk nods and suddenly seems anxious again. Leo decided he’ll get changed in the bathroom and let the kid have some space for a minute. Besides, he doesn’t exactly want to strip in front of the kid. 

When Leonard returned kirk was already in bed, his bag unpacked and tucked neatly under the bed.

“Computer, lights off.” Leo pulls the covers up and yawned.  
“Night kid”.  
“Night Bones”.


	2. This might be a little more difficult

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim has a difficult day and his medical. Bones makes some friends.

Leo woke up to find Kirk snoring. Well the kid didn’t promise. He smiled despite himself and dragged himself out of bed, grabbing his clothes and walking quietly to the bathroom. Leo dressed quickly, washed his face and then stared at himself in the mirror. He sighed. He knew he already hated the cadet reds. Somehow, despite not being close fitting, they managed to highlight everything thing he hated about his body. Even with 23rd century medicine, there was only so much that could be done.

Hearing Kirk stir next door, he returned to the bedroom.  
“You sure do snore kid”  
Jim smirked and stretched his arms out. Leo couldn’t help notice how young he looked as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

He must have stared at Kirk for too long as Kirk’s body language suddenly changed. Kirk pulled up the covers firmly and cleared his throat. _Len get a grip! You’re freaking the kid out._

‘Right um I’d betta go. See ya later Jim?”  
“Sure Leo.” Kirk smiled, a little self consciously and waved to Leo as he left the room.

 _What did I do to make him feel so uncomfortable?_ Leo shook his head and dismissed the thought as he headed to the canteen. _He’s probably just nervous_.

***  
As long as Leo left, Jim jumped up and found his clothes. He dressed in the bathroom, checking himself in the mirror. _Damnit._ His trousers hung a little too loose off his waist and the jacket just made his shoulders look even smaller. _Nothing you can do Jim. You’ll be fine._

Jim checked his padd. He just had time to see Pike before his first class. Jim set off quickly towards Pike’s office and knocked on the door. He was surprised when a female voice invited him to enter. A stern looking woman was sitting at a desk on one side of the room. _She must be Pike’s yeoman?_

“Hi.. um I’m looking for Captain Pike?”  
“He’ll be here in a minute Cadet. Can I help with anything? Only Pike doesn’t usually see Cadets much.”  
“Oh sorry Miss. Don’t worry about it then.” He turned to go, anxious to leave. It must have been obvious as the woman’s expression softened.

“Look why don’t you tell me what’s wrong and I’ll see what I can do?” She patted a seat in front of her desk. Jim hesitated for a moment and then made his way over.  
“Now what’s your name? I’m Commander Walsh, Captain Pike’s 2nd in command”.  
“Cadet James Kirk. Sorry I.. didn’t realise who you were”. Commander Walsh looked amused and chuckled.  
“23rd Century and some things never change...Nevermind. What can I do for you Cadet Kirk?. Jim blushed, embarrassed. _Way to go Jim. You don’t need to be sexist to be a man._

“It’s well.. Um” He sighed. _How am I going to explain this?_  
“There’s an error in the my records and well I’ve been assigned the girls dorms”. 

The Commander nodded understandingly. “I can fix that, happens all the time.” Jim sighed in relief.  
She grabbed a padd and began to type. After a minute or two, she paused.

“Hmmm, this might be a little more difficult than I thought. It seems it wasn’t a one off error… your records are down as female Jim. I can reassign your dorms but you’ll have to get one of the medical staff to change your gender marker I’m afraid”. Commander Walsh put down the padd and looked at him expectantly. 

_Shit. Don’t panic Jim, don’t panic_.  
“ Oh right..err sorry I’ve got to go”. Jim jumped up and practically ran out of the room, much to Commander Walsh’s dismay.

***

Jean sighed. Clearly the kid wasn’t comfortable enough to talk about it. She thought for a second and then grabbed her padd. She knew just the person to call and sent a comn request. Boyce picked up instantly.

“Jean! What can I do for you?” Jean smiled at the sound of Boyce’s voice.  
“I’ve got a new cadet for you Phil. I suspect he might need a little… help. He came to change a record and bolted when I told him the system had him down as female.”  
“Ah… I see. Who is he assigned to at the moment?”  
“Let me see… a Dr McCoy?”  
“Right, I’ll have a chat with him. Leave it in my hands Jean”.  
“Thanks Phil.” Boyce ended the comn call and pulled up what she had been working on, confident that Boyce would look after the young Cadet.

*** 

Jim ran to the nearest bathroom and dived into a cubicle. He locked the door and rested his forehead against the cool metal. 

_SHIT SHIT SHIT. Is it that obvious? Pike thought it was a mistake but she clearly didn’t. <.i>_

__

Jim forced himself to take a deep breath and concentrated on slowing his breathing. _Time to think of a new plan._ He sat down on the toilet seat and closed his eyes. _Breathe in...breathe out._

He managed to calm himself down after a few minutes and was about to leave the cubicle when he heard someone enter.

“So what’s this about a creep who turned up in your room last night?”  
“Ugh it was.. So weird. He said it was his room and i mean his stuff was there but… clearly he shouldn’t have been in girls dorms. I just can’t understand how they managed to mix it up. Especially seeing as its girls only that floor.”

Jim froze. It was the girl from last night. _Shit! Not only had he managed to enter the wrong bathroom in his panic but now she was there!_ He peered out the crack between the dor and the frame. Sure enough, there was Uhura and another girl next to her. 

_Just stay quiet and wait for them to leave. No one knows you’re here._

“Strange. Must have been a system error. Poor kid, you must have given him a fright. Was he cute though?”  
“Gaia! You’re terrible.”  
“Uharaaa!”  
“I can’t believe you. I don't even know! I wasn’t interested.”  
“Ugh you’re such a useless lesbian Uhura… Totally blind”  
“Omg Gaia for the last time I’m not into girls. I just.. haven’t seen any cute guys yet.”  
Gaia snorted and muttered something under her breath.  
“Whatever, come on we’re gonna be late.”

They left the bathroom and Jim gave a sigh of relief. _They didn’t seem to realise! And...was... Uhura actually gay?_

Jim unlocked the cubicle and quickly slipped out the bathroom. He checked his padd. No time to get breakfast before class now. He sighed and set off for the lecture hall.

***

Leo was in the middle of a medical when a nurse came up to him and told him the Dr Boyce requested him. He quickly finished the cadet’s medical and went to Dr Boyce’s office.

“You wanted to see me Dr?  
“Ah yes! Leo is it?” Leo nodded, clasping his hands behind his back in a effort to hide this anxiousness.  
“Grab a chair! Oh don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. Just wanted to ask you about a patient.”  
“Oh right.. Of course.” Leo sat down on the proffered chair, conscious he was probably sitting strangely.

“Cadet Kirk. Do you know him?”  
“Sure, we met on the shuttle over. He’s not… in trouble is he. He er.. Crashed on my spare bed last night.. Something about being accidentally assigned a female roommate?”

Boyce sighed. “Ah. That complicates things. Listen, would you mind if I took over his care? You’re down to do his medical but if you’re his friend…” Leo looked puzzled.  
“ I didn’t realise he was on my list but sure if you think that’s best.”  
“ I do. Nothing to do with you son, just.. forget i said anything about it.” Dr Boyce straighten and got up. Leo quickly jumped up and started for the door, then stopped.

“Actually, Dr Boyce? There was something I wanted to ask you.”

***

Jim’s stomach grumbled mid way through his third class of the day and he remembered he hadn’t eaten breakfast. He tried not to yawn and sat up straighter, trying to pay attention to the lecture. He gave up after a few minutes. Only ten minutes left anyways. He opened his padd and scrolled through his timetable. Half of the subjects he’d already studied way beyond cadet level when he was…he pushed the thought away. _Not now._

“ Now remember, you have till the end of week to finalise your choices. If you want to test out, the tests will take place on Saturday morning. That is all for today, Cadets.” Jim’s ears perked up at this. _Great! No introductory warp theory! At least the academic side should be fine._

Jim stretched and got up from his chair, pads in hand and started to follow the crowd out of the auditorium. He spotted Uhura and her friend Galia ahead of him and was about to drop back when something Galia said caught his attention. 

“Honestly I can’t believe how poor the security settings are. They’re virtually asking you to hack in.”  
“Galia, most people’s first instinct isn’t to hack Starfleet records because they can!” Galia laughed and said something Jim didn’t catch. He stopped listening as a thought had struck him. 

_I know a fair amount of programming. If it’s really that easy… I could change my records myself. Then no one needs to know!_

Jim glanced at the time on his padd. His stomach rumbled again, reminding him it was lunch time. A message popped up on his padd reminding him his medical was at 4pm. 

_Shit, I’d better do this now, before they starting poking around at my records._

McCoy, L: lunch in an hour?  
Kirk, J: sure, I’ll meet you there. 

***  
Leo closed his messages and pulled up his list of medicals. He’d better get on with them if he was to make lunch in an hour, like he’d just promised Kirk. He sighed. 

_You’re just having lunch because… he’s your friend. He’s not your patient anymore so stop fussing! Dr Boyce said it was nothing so stop reading in to it. Besides, Dr Boyce is a decent fella, you know you can trust him._

That he couldn’t argue with. Dr Boyce, or Phil as he’d been told to call him, hadn’t blinked an eyelid when he explained the situation. He’d even said if Leo changed his mind about _that_ surgery in the future that he’d be happy to do it. In the meantime had sent Leo’s prescription straight to his padd, along with instructions to the nearest Starfleet clinic off campus in case he wanted to avoid bumping into colleagues. 

Leo shook his head and checked the next name on his list. _Time to get on with this._

“Cadet Chekov?”

***  
Jim headed to the library and found quiet spot where he wouldn’t be seen. It didn’t take him long to get into his records. He scrolled down and quickly found his assigned doctor.

_I swear it said McCoy yesterday… I’ll have to ask him about Dr Boyce but one less thing to change I guess. Now where’s the gender field…_

He found it quickly and clicked the dropdown menu. He selected male, then paused and looked at the other options. He was surprised to find a pile he hadn’t heard of. _Perhaps starfleet is more… inclusive than I thought._ He wondered if he should leave it as it was but decided against it. _Male… there. Done._

The next thing to do was sort out the room situation. _Hang on, I could just… stay with Leo. After all… he does have a spare bed._ He flicked through the possible options but kept on coming back to his initial idea. _He seems decent and I guess he is a medic so… if he finds out… there’s a good chance he’ll be better than most people._ He made the change and closed his file, careful to cover his tracks. _No one will notice… after all, I’ve done this before._ He bit his lip and sighed. _STOP THINKING ABOUT IT._

His stomach rumbled again and he was reminded he still hadn’t eaten. He commed Leo and headed to the canteen.

*** 

Leo had just finished with his patient when he got Kirk’s comm saying he was heading to lunch. 

McCoy,L: on my way kid

He quickly tidied the consulting room and headed out of the medical centre. The medicals so far had been straight forward, if a little boring. As important as he realised medicals were, there was only so many warning he could give, knowing that most of them would be ignored anyways. The nuse he’d been working with, Chapel, had told him with a smirk that half of them would be back in a week or two with some STD or pregnancy worries. He’d muttered he looked forward to it, at which she had chuckled. 

Leo reached the canteen and looked around for Kirk. He couldn’t see him so he grabbed his lunch before having a more thorough look. He spotted kirk sitting in the corner, almost tucked out of sight.

“Hey kid” Jim looked up startled and then visibly relaxed when he saw it was McCoy.  
“Hey… grubs good” “I can tell.” Leo remarked drly. Jim paused and put down his fork.  
“Sorry… forgot to have breakfast so…”. Leo rolled his eyes and was about to launch into a lecture but then sensed he’d hit a nerve.  
“So.. how was your morning?”. Jim swallowed quickly and looked down at his plate..  
“Um.. okay. Not much happened.” Leo suspected that wasn’t the case but didn’t push it.  
“Actually I mean to ask you, what’s Dr Boyce like? I’ve got him down to do my medical”.  
“Oh Dr Boyce is a decent fella. I met him this morning and he was helpful enough..” Jim looked relieved and Leo couldn’t help wonder why Dr Boyce had taken on the young cadet. He knew now wasn’t the time to push it though.

“Did you manage to sort out the rooming situation?” Jim smirked.  
“Yeah. I’m staying with you.”  
“They’re okay with you being in postgrad dorms?” Leo was surprised but also pleased. As much as he’d complained about Jim’s snoring the night before, he’d been dreading being on his own.  
“Yeah. Well...I didn’t exactly ask them.”  
“Jim?”  
“Look I just changed it on the system… you don’t mind do you?”  
“I’m pretty sure you’re not meant to hack your records kid… but yeah it’s fine. At least I’ll be able to keep you outta trouble.” Jim laughed and rolled his eyes at Leo.  
“Yeah right old man… More like I’ll get you to lighten up. “  
It was Leo’s turn to roll his eyes but inwardly he knew Jim was probably right about him needing to chill out a bit more. _Wasn’t that what she’d always said..._

Jim had by now scraped his plate clean and was tucking into dessert. Leo couldn’t help but notice the speed at which Jim ate but again didn’t say anything. He reminded himself that it wasn’t any of his business but couldn’t help feeling a twinge of concern for the kid sitting opposite him. He reassured himself that Boyce would get to the bottom of it if there was anything going on. 

They finished their desserts in comfortable silence.  
“I’d better get back Jim. Don’t forget your medical or I’ll come and find ya.” Jim rolled his eyes at Leo but smiled.  
“Later Leo” 

***  
The rest of Jim’s afternoon flew by all too quickly. He was dreading the medical but from the short time he’d known Bones, he knew that the threat of coming to find him was probably true. 

He headed over to the medical centre. Better get this over with. You’ve fixed your records… it’s gonna be fine. Besides Bones said Boyce was decent right…

Jim entered the building, sighed and took a seat, jiggingly his leg nervously. He looked round for Leo but there was no sign of him. He has got a job. 

“Cadet Kirk?”

***  
Boyce called out Kirk named and waited patiently. A young, thin cadet walked over. 

“Come in Kirk. I promise I don’t bite.”  
The kid gave him a small smile. He looked around the room and frowned when he saw Christine in the corner. 

_Of course. I doubt he’s going to want to say, well, anything really with her here._

“Christine, do you want to go and give M’Benga a hand? I think I can manage this one on my own.” Christine looked at him curiously, but nodded and left the room. 

She won’t let that one go easily. Tough, she’ll have to.

“Right. Hop up on the couch young man, I’ll just get your records up.” Kirk obeyed quietly. Boyce was surprised that this didn’t meet more resistance. 

He pulled up Kirk’s records. He was pretending to read the summary, not wanting Kirk to think he’d already read his records, when something caught his eye. Hang on… someone’s changed the gender entry. He glanced at Kirk and was met with an all too innocent look of the young cadet’s face.. 

_I wonder… did he change it? Perhaps this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought._

“We’ll start with a few checks. Just routine okay?” Kirk nodded, though Boyce noticed he tensed slightly. 

“Do I… need to strip?” Boyce shook his head. 

“The tricorder can tell me everything I need to know.” Kirk immeadiately looked uneasy. Boyce thought quickly.

“We can start with your medical history if you’d prefer?” he suggested gently. Kirk nodded quickly, looking relieved.

He got the padd again and sat back down opposite kirk, who was still perched on the biobed, shoulder hunched. 

“Right..Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell me your birth date?”. Boyce slowly ran through the first couple of routine questions, hoping it would put Kirk at ease.

“Now everything looks pretty normal on here until, let me see, age 13? There’s nothing here between age 13 and 16. Do you know why that would be?”

“I was visiting family off planet.” Boyce nodded.  
_Must have been outside federation space or we’d have them._

“Can you tell me where exactly? I’d like to see if I can try track them down.” Kirk immediately shook his head.

“They were destroyed.” “Destroyed? Where exactly were you?” 

***  
Jim left the doctor’s office, exhausted. He knew Dr Boyce hadn’t been exactly satisfied with his explanation, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He didn’t like the explanation anymore himself but it was necessary, or at least that’s what they had said. He shivered, trying to shake off the memory. 

He’d managed to pass off binder off as a vest. Luckily, Boyce hadn’t seemed too interested, or at least had been distracted enough to not notice. _I mean, it’s not like he had any reason to suspect it was anything else._ He’d at least managed to satisfy Dr Boyce that he was indeed fit and healthy and avoided any further investigations. The rest of the medical had passed without further incident at least. Still, he couldn’t help feeling that Dr Boyce’s curiosity hadn’t been satisfied. 

Jim left the medical centre, checking his padd for his schedule. 2 more classes but nothing terribly exciting. It seemed the more interesting classes started next week. He set off for his next class, looking at the map on his padd. He frowned as a notification popped up. Boyce had sent him a message.

Boyce, P: Forgot to give you the usual leaflets before you left. Any questions you can of course ask me.

Jim clicked on the attachment on the message and sure enough, it was just some infomation leaflets. There seemed pretty routine- safe sex, healthy eating, managing moving and so on. There was one that caught Jim’s attention though- a brochure on the Academy’s lgbt+ support group. He quickly read it before closing the document, suddenly anxious that someone would see him reading it. He didn’t want them to get any ideas. Still the support group sounded interesting, and after all, as he reminded himself, being trans wasn’t the only queer thing about him.

***  
When Leo finished, it was well into the evening. Jim had already messaged him appologising that he’d already got dinner. Leo was just glad Jim had eaten and messaged back that he’d meet him at the dorm. In the meantime what to do about dinner. Leo loathed eating on his own but equally was hungry enough that he didn’t really care. 

He set off in the direction of the canteen, lost in his thoughts. He’d enjoyed his first day. As much as medicals were tedious, they weren’t too tiring and he’d enjoyed meeting a few cadets from species he hadn’t encountered before. That reminded him, he need to do some reading before his advanced xenobiology classes started next week. He had a much lower class requirement than most cadets, and he’d chosen advanced xenobiology as an extra at Dr Boyce’s suggestion. Whilst Leo was determined to remain earth side, Dr Boyce had made a good point that it was a highly recommended speciliaty for a starfleet doctor. The other class he’d chosen as an extra was on the history of medicine. He’d hoped that it might include a look at historical trans health care, something he’d tried to research but without much luck.

“McCoy! Come join us!” Leo looked around him, startled. He spotted the nurse he’d been working with in the morning waving him over. He smiled and waved back, gesturing that he’d get some food first. He quickly filled his plate and went and sat down next to Chapel. Chapel introduced him to the man sitting next to her, named M’Benga.

“So you survived your first day then?” Chapel asked.  
“Just about, yeah. Good thing I’m used to long hours” he replied between mouthfuls.

“Ha, you’re luckily. Chrissy here joined straight out of med school and it was quite a shock.” Chapel jabbed M’Benga with her elbow playfully.  
“Just because you practiced on Vulcan..” Leo looked up, surprised and a little puzzled.  
“I spent a year training on Vulcan, and well they don’t sleep much there. Vulcan adults only need 3 hours sleep a day.”  
“I had no idea! I’d kill for that,” he remarked.  
“Wouldn’t we all. Anyways I want to hear about you McCoy, M’benga’s been boring me for a whole year.” CHapel looked at him expectantly. 

Here we go… 

Leo quickly ran through how he’d ended up the academy. Chapel nodded sympathetically when he mentioned the divorce but didn’t pry, though he could tell she was dying to.  
“Well… I’m sure you’ll have admirers in no time here.” Leo snorted.  
“Yeah who’d want to end up with an old man like me..”  
“I bet you’re younger than me!” interrupted M’Benga. Leo rolled his eyes.  
“I saw that! Whatever you say, we’re taking you out soon,” replied Chapel.  
“That’s what my roommate keeps saying… and he’s only known me for a day.”  
“You’re sharing? Usually they give medics single rooms,” asked M’Benga.  
“Well I wasn’t meant to be sharing but.. Jim Kirk is very perausasive and besides there was a mix up with his accomodation.”  
“Kirk? I was at his medical earlier but Boyce sent me away for some reason.” remakred Chapel.  
Leo shrugged.  
“I don’t think the kid likes doctors much, I’m sure Boyce was trying to put him at ease.”  
“He did look quite anxious to be honest,” admitted Chapel. Leo nodded and changed the subject of the conversation. He didn’t want to be gossiping about his roommate, as much as he was curious. 

They all finished their meals soon. Leo could feel the day starting to catch up with him, so excused himself and headed back to the dorm yawning. 

Jim was curled up in a chair, reading ,when Leo entered the room. Leo sat down on his bed and threw his shoes off before lying down.

“Long day?” Jim had put down his book and moved over to his own bed, sitting opposite Leo.

“Kinda. In a good way. How about ya kid?”  
“Alright… classes are a bit boring, the interesting ones start next week.” Leo nodded. _Should I ask him about how the medical went?_ Jim carried on talking, something about testing out of classes. He looked tired. _Not today._  
*** 

Jim realised Bone wasn’t listening.  
“Sorry, I’m boring you,” he muttered and stopped talking.

“Sorry I’m being rude, it’s not you kid. I”m just exhausted.” Bones ran a hand through his hair as he said it. Jim was unconvinced he meant but nodded.

“If you want to shower, I’m going to read for a bit.”  
Bones nodded and got up, heading for the bathroom.

Jim returned to his reading. He tried to concentrate on the article he was reading. It was on a proposed change to warp engine design, by a Montgomery Scotty. Normally Jim would have found it fascinating, but he was distracted by the dull pain from his chest. He sighed, and put down the padd. He knew he was wearing his binder for too long, but he couldn’t see anyway round it. It was going to be difficult enough getting changed for bed without Leo noticing his chest. Jim decided he’d risk it, and quickly took his shirt off. He tugged his binder off, purposely turned away from the bathroom door. He put on a sleep shirt and a baggy jumper just as Leo returned from the bathroom. 

“Sorry..Didn’t realise you were changing.”  
“S’okay… realised I’m basically ready to sleep too.” He jumped up and headed for the bathroom with the rest of his clothes.

He changed into loose pajama bottom. Normally he just slept in his boxers but didn’t want to risk it with Bones. Jim gathered his clothes up, and realised he’d left his binder on the bed. He hurried back hoping Bones wouldn’t have noticed it and found Bones already lying under the covers, his eyes barely open. Jim grabbed the binder quickly and put it away with the rest of his clothes, and got into his bed. 

“You’re gonna boil sleeping in that jumper kid,” muttered Bones sleepily before rolling onto his side, facing away from Jim. 

Jim was about to reply but then heard a snore and realised Bones had already fallen asleep. He removed the offending item of clothing, smiling to himself, and snuggled down under the covers. He drifted off quickly, lulled by the sound of Bone’s soft snores.


	3. Are they... a thing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not finished yet, but here's a sneak peak as way of saying sorry for taking so long to update xx

Phil yawned as he sat down in the caffeteria, unceramoniously dumping his tray on the table. It was too early to be awake and he had another full day of medicals in ahead of him.

“Someone not had their coffee yet?”

Phil scowled across the table at his friend.  
“No I haven’t. It’s unnatural to be that awake at this time of day” he grumped back. His friend laughed and kicked him gently under the table. Phil held his coffee cup in both hands and took a long swig, watching Chris make headway with his breakfast. 

Most senior staff avoided the cafeteria at all costs, but Phil and Chris weren’t exactly your average senior officers. Chris had long given up caring what others thought, at least about unimportant things and Phil, well, he’d go wherever Chris went. Phil always told Chris he only went along with him because he wanted he didn’t want Chris to look like a sad old man with no friends, but truthfully, he was the one who missed the other when Chris was called away. 

“Something on your mind?” Chris teased, goodnaturedly.

Phil shook his head, realising he’d been staring at Chris for a little too long. Phil tucked into his breakfast and listened to Chris recount all the latest gossip. They were only 3 days into term and yet Chris had already found out about all the drama going on. Phil was sure he actively seeked it out.

“Talking of cadets actually, have you met my latest recruit?”  
“Kirk you mean? Yeah did his medical yesterday.” Chris studied Phil.  
“Anything… strange?”  
“Chris, you know I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to…” Chris nodded and sighed.  
“I’m just puzzled… One said he dropped in yesterday but was very cryptic about why.”  
“Oh that… It’s under control. You know what One is like, pretends to be all stern but secrectly tries to mother all of the cadets.”   
Chris barked loudly.  
“You know she’d kill you if she heard you say that.” Phil smiled and shrugged his shoulders, not caring as he basked in the warmth of Chri’s laugther.

Chris’s padd pinged.   
“Here we go again… I’ll catch you later Phil, gotta run.” Phil watched as Chris got up and walked off. He sighed and checked the time on his own padd. He’d better get going if he was going to be on time. He got up and realised Chris had left his tray and cursed. 

“Every single time I swear to god…”

***


End file.
